Return to Noonvale
by Socialtopia
Summary: Martin can't take the constant dreams of Rose anymore and he leads his friends back to the land of painful and forgotten memories. Will it cure his heartache? R&R!
1. Nightmare

Hey I'm Tiger64. I'm not new to but this is my first Redwall story. If you ever are interested I encourage you to check out my other story, Star Fox Adventures: the team with Clay Claws. It's a pretty good fic; my reviews have only been good ones. Anyway, about this story, I was inspired to write this after I finished reading _Martin the Warrior. _The love story between Martin and Rose was so rare to find in one of Jacque's books that I needed to write something on it. While I'm not nearly as good as Brian I have an A in English so I hope you can rest easy now :). This story is about what happens after the events of _The legend of Luke. _It's only been a couple seasons since then so Martin, Gonff, and Dinny are still quite young. I haven't read _The legend of Luke _yet so if I miss a crucial character please tell me and I'll edit the chapter! Anyway, in this story Martin has been having reoccurring dreams about his lost love, Rose. So he tricks his friends into coming with him and making them think that he's only going to search his old caves for anything that might be left from his life there. However, he is only leading them to the one place that he swore he would never talk about again. Martin only does this because he wants to see if looking over the place of painful memories would help him coax through his tough times without Rose. However, Martin is very wrong. Ok! Enough said about the rest of the story shall we begin? Oh! By the way, I have placed one of my own characters in this story. His name is Landon and he's a mouse like Martin. He followed Martin down from the northlands so basically he's the only one in Mossflower who knows about Martins "true" past. Ok, enjoy the story! (All characters in Redwall/Mossflower are owned by Brian Jacques…Landon is owned by me!)

Redwall Abbey, a safe haven for many woodlanders alike. Redwall Abbey, where many wars have been fought, and have yet to be fought. Redwall Abbey, the large red bricked building in which a young mouse is having yet another unmerciful nightmare.

_The sun shone down on a large, grass green field. Flowers were everywhere, daisies, violets, sunflowers, geraniums, and…roses. Trees could be seen off in the distance, all of them blooming with apple, cherry, and peach blossoms. The fragrant smell of those delicate buds hovered over Martin as he stood right in the middle of this vast, heavenly field. He could feel the comforting warmth of the sun and the joyous chorus that the birds let loose on the world. However, over the birds' melodious chirps and tweets he could hear an even sweeter sound. It was like a beautiful ringing of hundreds of blue bells. No sound Martin had ever heard could compare to this calming one…well…one sound could. Martin recognized this sound immediately and, as he had done many times before, ran towards the source of it. As he ran he could see the serene features of the landscape around him, but he was focused on what was in the middle. Straight ahead of him Martin could see a beautiful mousemaid twirling in the field of flowers. Her eyes were hazel pools of moonlight and love. Martin felt happy and safe when he saw that lovely pair looking at him. He knew who this was as he had only thought of her since…well…since they met. He began calling her name as he began to near her._

"_Rose! Rose, I'm coming!"_

_The mousemaid stopped twirling and smiled as she began to run towards him as well._

"_Martin! Oh, Martin my darling! I'm here!"_

_Martin couldn't believe she was back. He knew that nothing could ruin this happy and special moment for him and Rose. But, something could. Martin spread his arms wide as he and Rose got within a hairs length of each other. Right before they could embrace there was a flash from above and instead of looking into the gentle hazel eyes that he loved, Martin was staring into his own reflection from his father's sword. Rose petals went flying as the gentle singing stopped and Martin was left staring up at the colossal blade as it began to tip over. Martin didn't make a sound as he was crushed under the sword's immense weight._

"ROSE!"

A clap of thunder boomed overhead as Martin the Warrior, guardian of Redwall, bolted upright in his bed with tears streaming down his face.

Yes it was a short chapter. But I left you wondering now didn't I? Don't worry, most chapters won't be this short. You'll learn this easily if you read my other story. Well, that's all for now…see ya!


	2. The Meeting

Hey, me again. I'm in the process of reading _The legend of Luke_ but I must tell you that most of my story includes very little on what happened in that book. Anyway, like I told you before the chapters should be getting gradually longer as that is what usually happens in my fics. Ok, if you remember correctly Martin had just woken up from a painful nightmare about Rose, so lets read on!

Martin sat in his bed shivering, he felt colder that usual; he always felt cold after having that dream. It felt so real, why couldn't it _be _real? He had seen her, he had almost embraced her, and he had almost felt complete for the first time in ages. He had fallen victim to another one of his painful dreams about the mousemaid that he loved and lost. Time and time again he would have this dream…no…not a dream. Dreams were pleasant…dreams had meaning to them…dreams had a happy ending. This was no dream it was a nightmare. Every time that Martin had this nightmare he would run faster, farther, and with more hope that he could finally hold that beautiful creature. One time…that's it…that's the only time that he ever hugged her. When she had died down in the pit in Marshank he had held her and wept for her loss. She would never know how he felt about her and how he would do anything to change the past to bring her back. If she had lived he would've told her how much he loved her and how he wanted to stay with her in Noonvale. If only he hadn't been so careless about everything around him and if only he would've paid more attention to Rose during the battle against Badrang. _If only…if only…_that seemed to be Martin's only thought now days. If only a lot of things…but if only won't change the past or predict the future. Rose would still be alive today if only that stupid phrase had gone the other way. Martin gave a gentle cry of pain and sadness as he lay back down on his pillow. He looked out his window and saw the quarter moon with the stars caressing it from all sides in the pitch, black sky.

_If only I wasn't who I am today…then I'd be a happy, carefree creature…and Rose would be with me…forever…_

With this final thought in mind Martin closed his eyes and drifted back into a deep sleep hoping that he wouldn't wake again until the first rays of sunlight filtered into his room.

Birds were chirping and the sun shone brightly down on the trio of mice coming down the road towards Redwall Abbey. Gonff the Mousethief, his pretty wife Columbine, and their little mousebabe Gonfflet happily walked towards the huge, sandstone building with good thoughts in mind. Gonfflet of course was only looking forward to what games and tricks him and his little dibbun friends could play on the adults while Gonff and Columbine planned to check up on the inhabitants of Redwall, especially Martin. For some reason he had been really depressed lately; not laughing when Gonff told his usually funny jokes or when they sat under the shade of a fruit tree and watched the little dibbuns play in the orchard. Gonff had talked to Martin's close friend Landon about this but he couldn't figure out what was wrong either. He planned to make a break-through on this today if Martin hadn't perked up yet but he put the plan aside as the badger mother of Redwall, Bella of Brockhall, greeted the three at the abbey gates.

"Well, well, Mr. Gonff and Columbine! What a pleasant surprise, and I see you brought your little one with you too. I'm glad, every dibbun in Redwall has been whining about when he'd be coming back so bless you both!"

"Thank you Bella, we wouldn't want to spoil the little ones of their childhood playmates now would we?" said Columbine as she set down her son on the soft, dew covered grass.

"Right you are darling. Now run along son and play nice with the other little rascals." Added Gonff giving his son a little nudge towards the rest of the dibbuns who were running in the field.

When Gonfflet was out of earshot Bella turned back to the mouse couple with a look of worry on her face. Gonff now focused his attention back onto the subject at hand, Martin's mood situation.

"Now that your little one is gone we should get to the real point of your visit." Said Bella as she led the two through the main gates and into the courtyard.

Martin seemed to be the only distressed creature at Redwall; every beast in sight was happily and busily doing his or her own chores and tasks for the day. The smell of fresh oatcakes drenched in honey along with cool strawberry cordial still hung in the air from the earlier breakfast meal. The clear, clean water in the abbey pond glistened as sunlight came down onto its light blue features. Bella led Gonff and Columbine through a couple doors and finally pulled out a couple chairs as they sat down around the large table in the Great Hall. Gonff took off his heavy outer tunic while he made himself comfortable for another meeting about the task at hand, freeing Martin from the grips of depression. Bella gave both mice an even more worried look than before as she began to talk.

"Now, we all know why we are here right now. To try and figure out what is keeping our warrior so downhearted and gloomy. Though we still have no idea as of why this mood change has occurred in Martin we know for certain that we must do something soon or else the Martin that we know and love may be lost forever. Anyway, have either of you got the _faintest _idea on why this has happened?"

Gonff and Columbine exchanged glances before either one spoke.

"No, sorry Bella but neither of us can think of why he is acting so strangely." Said Columbine with a hint of sadness in her soft voice.

"But we can tell you one thing, out of every beast here at Redwall the one who would have the best chance of knowing is Landon. After all he is the one companion who followed Martin down from the Northlands. Have you tried talking to him about this?"

"Don't you think I have? Not even he knows why Martin is acting so sad."

"Well he's a lot of help then! We're sitting here without a clue in the world on why our best friend is acting so emotionally sick and he doesn't even have the slightest idea about it!" said Gonff in a slightly louder voice that rang around the Great Hall.

"Gonff, you can't blame him! I mean we can't just go up to Martin and ask him what's wrong, he'd just tell us to go away." Columbine replied in quick defense of the warrior.

"Well Landon doesn't really like talking about this either so maybe we should leave him out of it."

"Leave me outta what?"

All three creatures turned around in their chairs to find Martin's only friend left from the northlands, Landon the Warrior, standing right in the doorway to the Great Hall. Landon was dressed in his usual navy blue tunic with a dark red bandanna around his forehead. The warrior eyed the three suspiciously as he walked into the room and took a seat next to Bella.

"Sorry Landon, we didn't know you were there." Said Columbine.

"I was out with Foremole in the woods when I heard that you two arrived. I came in here looking for you, but what do you want to leave me out of?"

Bella looked at Gonff and Columbine for reassurance before she told Landon about their meeting.

"It's Martin, we're really getting worried about him. None of us can figure out why he's been acting so strange so we thought we'd conduct a meeting to try and figure it out. I thought that you were a bit soft about the subject so we were planning to not cause you any trouble." Said Bella to the warrior at her side.

Landon looked at all three of them before he gave a slight chuckle and said, "That's really kind of you but I have no trouble talking about Martin's mood troubles. I'm a bit frustrated that I can't figure anything out but I want to do anything that I can to help. Now, do any of you have an idea on how we can get Martin to open up to us about this?"

Gonff, Columbine, and Bella all looked at each other and each slowly and miserably shook their heads. Landon gave a small sigh of fatigue as he racked his brain about Martin's past.

"Well, I can't really think of anything from before we came to Mossflower that could be affecting him right now. I mean we know that his father is a huge soft spot with him but I'm sure he got over that when we traveled up north and heard Luke's legend. Maybe it could be…"

"What're you four doing in here?"

Landon, Bella, Gonff, and Columbine all turned around towards the doorway once again and gasped when they saw Redwall's other warrior mouse standing there. Martin looked tired and his eyes were a bit red, like he had been crying. However, no beast noticed this as they sat there trying to think up an explanation.

"Um…uh…well, matey…we were just…"

"Talking about when we should have a nameday!" Columbine cut off Gonff from his blundering.

"Right! Haven't thought of anything yet but you should probably go wash up before _you_ do anything today."

Martin looked confused and a bit surprised at their sudden outburst. He didn't say anything though; he just nodded sleepily and rubbed his eyes as he walked out of the Great Hall and back to his room. Landon made sure he was gone before saying anything.

"Phew, that was close. If he found out what we were talking about that'd be the end of it."

"Yes, but did you see him? It looked like he hasn't slept for a season!" Said Columbine.

"I know but we should probably end this meeting. Martin is sure to come back and I don't know what we'll tell him about a nameday. So I guess that's all for today." Announced Landon.

The other three nodded and got up to leave. Landon looked at Gonff and shook his head solemnly. There wasn't really anything that they could do right now. Martin was just as depressed as ever and they hadn't a clue on why. Gonff took Columbine's hand and led her out of the Great Hall leaving Bella with Landon.

"You know we have to do something soon right?" asked the badger.

"But what? I mean we have to figure out something on our own but we can't without Martin's help. Some friend I am, I follow Martin down from the north to make sure that he'll be okay and I can't even make him smile."

Bella looked at Landon sympathetically; she knew that Landon hated seeing Martin like this more than anybody.

"It's not your fault, don't worry we'll think of something. For now, we'll just have to do our best to make sure that Martin knows that he still has plenty of friends to care for him. That's all we can do right?"

Landon looked up at Bella and smiled weakly.

"I guess you're right. Thanks Bella, I know we'll think of something."

Bella smiled and nodded before she turned and left through the same doorway that Gonff and Columbine had gone. Landon put his head in his hands and exhaled in deep thought. What could they do? Martin was his best friend and he couldn't stand seeing him like this! What could it be? Is he sick, does he have some sort of disease? Is it possible that he still hasn't forgotten about the painful memories of his father? Or could it be…no, not that. It couldn't be that…and if it was then Martin was in much more trouble than anybody thought. It was very possible that he hadn't forgotten about her…he had loved her very much and she was taken away at the last moment. Landon pondered on these final thoughts before he too got up from his chair and left the Great Hall to find his fellow warrior friend.

Yay! Another great chapter is done! I hope you liked this one; it was longer than the previous chapter. Well I gotta go eat and go to bed. See ya in the next chapter!


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